I am a Citizen of Heaven

I am a
Citizen of Heaven

My journey
with Jesus has taken me to a point where I am understanding more and more how
vital it is to know who we are in Christ. The TRUTH amongst the lies the world
feeds us, the enemy feeds us, or even
the things we accept of ourselves.

We HAVE TO
know to be reminded of over and over of who we are so that we don’t conform to
this world, but be (being) transformed into the image of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To truly take each thought
captive and bring it under the obedience of Jesus. It’s a process of
transformation under the blood of Jesus. Oh, the lies to our identity, and where our identity truly lies is
something we need to be very aware of and alert to its position.

It’s a
never-ending battle. But the constant victorious
stance is ours to have when one knows with certainty that they We ARE:

*I am going
to touch on the RED lettered truths.

Lately I’ve
been meeting with two other gals (my age) and the topic of eternity came
up. Questions arose in the “once saved,
always saved”… genre. Their comments erred to the side of needing to be a good
person…and do good things to go to heaven, even after asking Jesus into your
heart. Conversation lead its way to the
truth that YES, after you ask Jesus into your heart and you are born again making the CHOICE to follow Christ and His ways (found in the Word, and led by
His Spirit)One chooses to make the right choices an not to live in sin and the
list goes on.

I can’t
disagree that all those things are good to do, self improvements etc (God
improves, transforms)but when someone ASKS Jesus into their heart and
confesses with their mouth through faith that Jesus is their Lord and Savior because they need a Savior from
the sinfulness that we once were… this seals the deal!

So, then I was
asked “What if someone does that and keeps on sinning and making wrong
choices. They are still going to
heaven? 

YES! And here is what Jesus showed me.

(The Vision)- I mentioned
in the last blog I hadn’t received a vision lately which was untrue this is
the vision.

I walked
the gravel road near my house. Mom and I
call it the anointed road… because it is.. we meet Jesus there, walk with Him,
talk with Him, praise Him some days, and cry out to Him in despair on other days. He meets us every time… all the time. I don’t remember my particular mood that
day. Quite possibly down (as it had been
lately) I talked with Jesus and said to Him, “I can’t wait to walk this same
gravel road with You in Heaven.” — Now I add this note: I believe wholeheartedly
that God gives us the desires of our hearts and He says He does and I love
this road. I know this road is in heaven just as my heart loves it here… it will love it for all eternity in heaven as
well. (this goes for several things we
love in life)just a side note.

So…  I said
to Him, “I can’t wait to walk this same gravel road with You in Heaven.”And Jesus
responded, “You already are”…. And He showed me a Mirrored image of the gravel road,
I looked to the sky and saw myself walking (upside down) with Jesus on the same
road I was currently on.

Now… I am
here… but I am also there. Therefore WE are here… but we are also there.

I can’t
explain how exactly. But just as Jesus is here with
us, and in Heaven interceding on our behalf at the right hand of God… we are
there with Him. 

We are here
and there.

As we are
here though… follow me please… just like that mirror a REFLECTION…we are to
REFLECT HEAVEN and the Glory of God here on earth.

That’s how
HEAVEN IS ON EARTH…that’s how we are LIGHT amongst DARKNESS. Because we are little reflectors of Him.

The more we
are cleaned off of the gunk and grime of this world, of sin, of whatever clings
to the pureness of a shiney mirror we are allowed to REFLECT JESUS and be ALL
of HIM and NONE of ourselves. 

Does this
make sense?

Our
position, the stance that we can take now knowing where our Identity Lies where our eternal place is; is
one of Gratitude and Thanks, one of LOVE for Jesus who made it possible to be who
we are and where our eternity resides.

As I saw
this vision I bawled and I said over and over and over “THANK YOU!”

Jesus doesn’t
say when you die you will come to heaven and then be a citizen. He says WE ARE.

Philippians 3:20 But
our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ,  

He doesn’t
say, When you get to heaven I’ll try and find you a seat, or I’ll save you a
seat.

 Ephesians 2:4-6 But because of his great love for us, God, who
is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even
when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us
with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Made /Raised etc. is past
tense, it’s done… not going to make, not going to raise us up… He DID! We are!

Back to the
conversation about once saved, always saved…

Yes. It’s
DONE.

Their
response was to the effect of…that doesn’t make sense.

And it
doesn’t … it’s called GRACE.

It’s a
gift.

We have
done, and can do nothing to earn it, therefore it cannot be taken away.

Romans 8:38-39 ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

They also
thought to some degree, well it’s not fair. It’s hard not to do the things (our flesh) we want to do but to choose
(the Spirit) the things God wants us to, to honor and obey Him.

Why do
those people who continuously make poor decisions and sin get to go with ease
to the same place I am working hard to get to?

Working
hard? As in grudgingly working? Really?

This is
where we need to understand our position in Christ that we are in Heaven and
we live to reflect His goodness and love which brings Him glory and us
joy. In that understanding the only
logical response is pure and simple GRATITUDE and LOVE for HIM.

This then
fuels our choices, our decisions, our actions and it isn’t HARD work. It’s a natural response to the Lover of our
souls. It’s out of the Overflow that we
are to operate.

 ⁵
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also
be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that
our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done
away with,that we should no
longer be slaves to sin- ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set
free from sin.

 ⁸
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again;
death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died
to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

 ¹¹
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ
Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself
to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as
those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of
yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall
no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

 ¹⁵
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no
means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone
as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey-whether you are slaves
to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷
But thanks
be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to
obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your
allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves
to righteousness.

 ¹⁹
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations.
Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to
ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness
leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free
from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at
that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
²²
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the
benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

So I end in
this.

We are who God says we are, Not going to be who
God says we’ll be someday when we die and go to heaven. This is our Identity NOW so live as Reflectors of Jesus. I encourage you to Allow
Him to clean away the impurities that cloud the mirrors we were made to
be. We ARE citizens of HEAVEN when we realize this, when this really sinks
in as to where our position is, Gratitude
and Love for the ONE
who paid the price for us to have this is what we operate out of. It’s what
fuels our readiness to obey when He leads, and die to the things (flesh) that
distance us from the Love He has for us to receive. Thanks be to God!